Complimentary Integrative Therapy
Patients Explore Their Environment – and Have Fun
When patients return to life after rehabilitation, they need a skillset for enjoying life. Complimentary Integrative Therapy (CIT) introduces patients to the infinite possibilities for reintegrating into leisure, hobbies or discovering new experiences to use at home. Trained therapists collaborate, as part of the patient’s treatment team, to plan activities that augment traditional therapy and address specific deficits. They help facilitate work to enhance motor skills and improve social and cognitive functioning. These activities help facilitate coping capabilities and integrate the skills learned in rehabilitation into home and community settings. CIT is about providing resources to patients and challenging them to adapt and grow byeond their current limitations. This is crucial to their own development and in addtion, gives the patient a chance to assist others.
Benefits of Complimentary Integrative Therapy
- Patients practice core skills needed at home, in the community, and in the workplace
- Spatial orientation, following directions, and memory exercises are practiced
- Appropriate behavior, communication, and problem solving are encouraged
- Physical conditioning is modeled; patients learn (and test) their limitations
- Attention, perception, and orientation awareness are introduced
- Patients learn to further adjust to their disability and manage stress with a therapist’s guidance
- Interaction with others and achieving goals can build self-esteem
Activities
- Volunteering at food banks and shelters, where appropriate
- In-clinic classes that address nutrition, health and wellness, and brain injury
- Supervised visits to a nearby gym
- Health/wellness meditation, yoga
- Bowling, walking in the park or neighborhood
- Art therapy
- Pet therapy
- Practicing return to work skills
- Visiting zoos, beaches, malls, parks
- Participating in charity walks and runs
